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Praetoria
Praetoria is the name of a parallel Earth. Called Reverse World or Backworld in pop culture, Praetoria is a dark mirror of First-Earth. Those that are pure and good in First-Earth are corrupt and evil in Pratoria. Based on Praetoria from City of Heroes Going Rouge. History of Praetoria Up until 1986, the history of Praetorain Earth exactly mirrored that of First-Earth. In the Spring of 1986, Praetoria had its genesis with the appointment of Lexinder Zod as the Earth's prime guardian. No Praetorian will ever forget the Malvan Invasion of 1980, when the alien race appeared unexpectedly in the skies and laid waste to entire regions. The governments of Earth waged a hopless, helpless war for six years against the alien invaders until the sudden appearance of the Malvan politician that would become their saviour. Lexinder ended the war by capturing the Malvan General Firewing, whom he claimed as being the mastermind behind the attack, though Firewing told a very different story. Whatever the truth, Firewing was executed. The governments of the world that were left: The United States, Japan, China, and Great Britian all agreed that Lexinder Zod would be, and should be, Praetoria's prime guardian. As radioactive waste consumed the rest of the planet, the remaining survivors of the war coalesced into three Great Cities on the American continent: Imperial City, Necropolis, and Steel City. In the thirty years that followed, the title of prime protector became emperor. Lexinder's gain of total power and absolute authority was gradual and bloodless, and he put the skills of politics he had been legendary for on Malva to work on Praetoria. When he was firmly established as Emperor, he made sweeping social reforms that created a way of life that for most was a utopia. Children would be educated for free. medical services, housing, food, and clothing would also be free of charge. All one had to do was work. Ten hours a day, every day, and your needs would be met. Of course, there were a few caveats. The laws of each nation were stripped away, replaced by the Praetorian Judicial System, which operates as follows: *Crime is punishable with death. *Educational instruction and materials are at the sole discretion of the Emperor. *Media programmes, literature, radio, and film will be at the sole discretion of the Emperor. *Those that do not work receive nothing. *Those with superhuman powers will serve the Emperor. *Those that defy the Emperor are criminals. Praetoria Today For most of the residents of Praetoria, life is blissful. There are no taxes to pay, crime is virtually non-existent, and all your needs are met if you put in your ten hours a day. Most Praetorians can't dream of life any other way and if they miss a few of the liberties and freedoms they used to have, they aren't saying. Most are content to work, live, and raise families in a society that exists-to their knowledge-nowhere else in the universe. Praetoria is divided into three connected cities. The first of these, Imperial City, is the seat of Praetorian government, and ear-marked by the soaring and impressive Imperial Tower, home of the Emperor. Steel City is largely industrial and boasts the largest cluster of employment opportunities to produce the goods and service that Praetorians need. The third city,' Necropolis,' has a rather unfortunate name but is beautiful miles and miles of suburbs. The Elite Praetoria Powers Division stands as the unified police force/military of Praetoria. Every single superhuman that lives and works in Praetoria is conscripted into service for the Emperor from the moment they first manifest a power until the day they draw their last breath. Lounge meta-humans are housed, educated, and put to work doing office jobs in the Imperial Tower until they either reach adulthood or having sufficient training and ability, like Hellbound, to wear the official badge. Because of their superhuman abilities--and the authority to use them to act as judge, jury and executioner--most of the time the officers of the EPPD are battling Resistance members rather than average citizens. The Praetorian Guard is made up of people that lack the meta-human powers that would otherwise qualify them for the EPPD. These individuals are utterly corrupt, utterly decadent, and utterly vile. Often they are extremely resentful of the EPPD officers because the PG officers do not receive the same benefits as the superior officers and they tend to take out their anger and frustration of Praetorian civilians. Worst of all, the PG officers are also all to a one authorized to be judge, jury, and executioner. The level of justice meted out by the PG really depends entirely on the individual; where one guard may merely issue a fine to a jaywalker, another might cripple him for life just to "teach him a lesson". The Prime Senate The Prime Senate are the rulers of Praetoria. These men and woman all call the shots, directing the daily life of all Praetorians from on high. The members of the Prime Senate are: *Emperor Lexinder Zod (The opposite of Paragon) *Zealot, Chief of Staff (The Opposite of Crusader) *Intermediary, Secretary of State (Opposite of The Broker) *Night Wing, Cabinet Minister (Opposite of Starlight Angel) *Reprisal, Secretary of Labor (Opposite of Retribution) The Resistance The Resistance is a group of ordinary citizens, defiant metahumans, and government workers whom have banded together to topple Emperor Lexinder's regime. Comprised of some of the greatest minds in Praetoria, the Resistance seeks to return Praetoria to it's former way of life. The resistance members are well armed, well-trained, and stand a very good chance of succeeding in their task given enough time. The Core of the Resistance are made up of some of the most powerful minds in the world. Each of these individuals is incredibly powerful, and if it were to come to a face to face conflict between The Core and the Praetorian Guard, the Core would likely win. The only thing stopping The Core from actually acting on this likelihood is their worry that innocent civilians would be killed in the crossfire. The Core members are: *Professor Protector, counterpart to Doctor Destroyer *Witchcraft, counterpart to Hand of Glory *Slingshot, counterpart to Tattletale *Minister Serpent, counterpart to King Cobra *Percipience, counterpart to Mastermind *Trajectory, counterpart of Vector *Phosphorescent, counterpart of Shadowlord. Villains Incorprated The largest group of law enforcement officers serving the Emperor are known in Paradigm City as Villains, Inc. Although on Praetoria these terrifying individuals are law enforcement, on First-Earth they are the worst sort of super villains; often weaving elaborate plots of mass death and destruction in Paradigm City to bring it under Tyrant's control. Each of these criminals are the polar opposites of the members of Heroes Unlimited which makes them even more frightening. When Villains, Incorporated makes an appearance in Paradigm City, everything goes on red alert. The members of Villains Incorporated are: 'Voltaic '- Voltaic is an excellent strategist, technician, engineer, and powerhouse. He leads the group with an iron fist, eliminating those that show any kind of mercy or compassion to the enemy. Voltaic is a strikingly handsome man whom always dressed in a fine black Armani suit with a bright yellow tie. His eyes are gunmetal grey and his waist length hair is black and perfectly straight. The counterpart to Doctor Tesla, this Nicholas Tesla is also a master of electricity, being able to manipulate it and create it for a variety of devastating offensive strikes. 'Hellbound '- The Praetorian Maron Namakaze has been violent and brutal all of her life, and lives for the glory of fighting. Like her First-Earth counterpart Girl Wonder, Hellbound has all of the powers of a true Malvan: she is virtually indestructable, meat-humanly strong and fast, and possesses heat and x-ray vision. More than that Hellbound is able to immolate at will, delivering awe inspiring flame attacks. Like her counterpart she is tiny and adorable, with long blonde-hair and espressive green eyes. In the field she wears a black shortsleeved top with the Malvan symbol for hate, M, on her chest and a pleated ultra-mini. 'War '- War is the counterpart to Brahma, and like her other-dimensional counterpart is a woman of action, not words. On Praetora, when War arrives on the scene people flee interror. Like Brahma War is all but invulnerable, even military ordinance can't stop her. She possesses meta-human strength, able to lift and carry 80 tons of weight. War is six feet tall and wears a black bodysuit, with a large section cut out around her belly. '''Maho '''is the dark version of Foxfire. Like his polar opposite, Maho has all the traditional shape-changing and spell using abilities of all True Kitsune. But where he differs from Foxfire is that while the hero genuinely cares for humanity, Maho sees it as nothing but cattle on which to feed and play his vile little games. He is quite fond of baffling the humans he is sworn to protect on Praetoria, and much fonder indeed of eating members of the Resistance. On First-Earth all of humanity exists only to slate his narcissistic desires or unholy appetites. '''Wolvesbane '''is the mirror image of Lotus. Whereas a young and curious Lotus had pleasant interactions with humans, Wolvesbane did not. She was caged and mistreated, a lab rat for scores of uncaring scientists until the day she broke free. Like Lotus, she utilizes a high tech rifle for dispatching errant humans--which she is quite fond of doing--and her control of the dark makes her especially lethal at night or in poorly lit places. '''Murk '''hates the daylight, unlike his mirror, Eclipse. He shrouds himself in the lunar powers he possesses, which includes manipulating shadows and illumination for his own benefit. He appears in public as a horrific spectre of a man in a fine suit and tie but with his head completely covered in bandages. He is the group's prime interrogator, and nobody knows methods of torture better than Murk. It is often said amonth Praetorian citizenry that it is much better to be killed by Murk than to be arrested by him. '''Orbweaver '''specializes in ritual murder. She has a very unique way of doling out death: by hanging. She's quite fods of tying a web-noose around the neck of the convicted criminal, attaching one end to the ledge of the roof, and dropping the convict over the side. Orbweaver, like her alternate self Gossamer, is a breath-takingly beautiful Chinese woman of 35, whom wears a loose black outfit in Chinese style, with a large white spider logo on the back and intricate webbing designs on the front. She is as fast on her feet as Gossamer is, and just like Gossamer is a master martial artist which makes an exceptionally hard target. '''Trashrat '''has a particularly decisive and utter hatred for her counterpart, Chinchilla. Whereas Chinchilla chose to leap clear of the wreckage of a life as a professional assassin, Trashrat chose not to make that leap. She is a silent killer, appearing from seemingly nowhere to slice her target from gut to throat. Like Chinchilla, she also uses a pair of batons, but hers are modified into shock batons; tasering anyone she smacks with one. She possesses the same motion detection, healing factor, and superb reflexes that Chinchilla possesses. '''Pyramid '''is the alternate version of Bubblegum and has a much darker nature. Whereas Bubblegum turned from her life of crime and became a superhero, Pyramid was thrust into the service of the Emperor as soon as her mutant powers surfaced. Rebellious by nature she was constanty beaten and maligned until hate became the only thing she knew. Pyramid hates everyone, and everything. She has the same stretching and expanding powers that Bubblegum has, and is particularly fond of shaping her hands into swords, spears, and hammers. In the field she wears a maroon bodysuit with a bright yellow triangle on the chest. '''Conscript '''is a pure soldier, through and through. Unlike his other team members, the backworld version of Javen Exarch does know compassion and mercy, and often excercises both in the execution of his duties. Though her uses a pair of heavy machine pistols with armor-piercing rounds instead of the famous rifle that Javen has, Conscript uses the same anti-personnel robots and wears the same type of suit that can render him almost impossible to see. '''Hailstone '''is a tyrant and a terror. The polar opposite of Black Ice, Hailstone believes himself superior to all other forms of life owing to his impressive and varied power to control cold, ice, sleet, and snow. He is fond of bullying the weak and helpless and has even thrown his weight around with his team once or twice which usually results in a beat down by Voltaic. '''Sigil '''has been called Flourish Idealized. Like Flourish, Sigil has at her disposal an amazing array of magical talents. With her spell book--a wretched thing bound in human skin and inscribed in blood with the ability to think on its own-Sigil can manipulate and control darkness, utilize eldrich magic for a variety of purposes including interdimensional travel, and terrorise her foes by her personal transport: a Victoria hellfire carriage drawn by two skeletal horses and a grim reaper driver. '''Porcelain '''is the evil counterpart to Thumbelina. Porcelain uses her staggering beauty as a weapon, trying to lure men in close so that she may feast on their life-essence, leaving only a lifeless and empty husk behind. She doesn't so this to sustain her own life, merely to take pleasure in inflicting a slow and mind-shatteringly agonizing death. Like Thumbelina she can amplify the traits and powers of her compatriots, or steal them from her foes. Category:Alien Worlds